Given that the festive period is upon us, it is unlikely that there will be a printed programme at Saturdays derby match against Edinburgh City.

With that in mind, Mike Lawson has provided us with his pre-match programme notes slightly earlier this week and we’ve made them into a downloadable PDF file for your reading pleasure.

With the Scottish Cup tie against Airdrie a matter of weeks away, we’ve also included some match reports and photographs from the 2003 Scottish Cup replay victory against Alloa Athletic which took place 5 years ago this weekend.

If that doesn’t get you fired up for the Airdrie game then nothing will.

Download the programme notes here.

Our Under 19s won a remarkable game against Civil Service Strollers in the league Cup today with a 6 – 5 scoreline.  Our goals came from Michael Kirkland who scored four, Chris Smith and an own goal.

In the Sunday Scottish Amateur Cup our local team The FootBall Club of Edinburgh unfortunately lost 2 – 1 to Dundee Argyle. 

Earlier in the day our Under 13 Colts lost 5 -2 to Dunbar Utd Colts.

A new official Spartans message board has now been set up. The forum can be found at:- http://www.spartansfc.com/forum/

Please feel free to visit the forum and register. Hopefully the forum will generate some lively debate amongst Spartans and non-Spartans fans alike.

Another busy Sunday lined up for tomorrow.

We start with a  4 vs 4 tournament for under 7s with over 100 players expected fromeight different clubs.  The tourney starts at 9 and goes through till 11.The Spartans squads trained at the Academy today and they are looking forward to their first opportunity to wear their Spartans strip in matches.

Our Under 13 Colts then play Dunbar Utd Colts in a league fixture with an 11am ko.  This is our 3rd XI at Under 13 level and they are looking forward to their first competitive game on the FieldTurf.

The 1pm ko is a Scottish Sunday Amateur Cup game between The Football Club of Edinburgh and a team from Dundee.  Spartans Development Officer Kenny Cameron restarted the FCofE this season…they were the first known football club in the country.  Find out more at www.footballclubofedinburgh.co.uk.

The FootBall Club of Edinburgh

Finally the 3pm ko is a League Cup encounter between our Under 19s and Civil Service Strollers.

The 1st XI scraped home 3 – 2 against Lothian Thistle in todays league game at City Park.  Donal Henretty was missing with his back injury and Sam Woods had picked up bruised ribs during the week.  A big crowd of over 200 were treated to an exciting encounter.  The latest addition to the Spartans army…some squaddies from Redford barracks…added some spice to the encounter with their chanting and witty humour.  The game was only 4 minutes old when Gavin Malin scored from close range after a mix up in the Lothian box.  Spartans looked in control but a poor clearance from Chris Flockhart was driven into the net by ex Spartan Kenny Young who had a great game returning to City Park.  We had plenty of the ball but Lothian looked dangerous on the break and just before half time they won a penalty Flockhart ‘keeper brought down one of the strikers in a wide position.  It did look a stonewall penalty and Blackley drove home.

Chris Flockhart - penalty conceded

The second half took some time to come to life with Lothian defending well with us creating few chances.  Two Omar Kader corners were to change the game in the final fifteen minutes.  Firstly Sievewright nodded past his own ‘keeper from the six yard box under pressure from Stewart Fowlie.  With eight minutes left we scored the winner when Robbie Manson scored from the edge of the six yard box after Keith McLeod had had an effort blocked.

Robbie Manson - winner

Lothian probably deserved a share of the points but the introduction of Omar Kader created some width which did put Lothian under more dangerous pressure.

Team: Flockhart, O’Donnel, Fowlie, Archibald, Gerrard, Manson, Malin, King, Walker (Hair 84), McLeod, Devlin (Kader 63) Subs not used: Smart, Hoskins, Preston  

The 2nd XI and 3rd XI games were both postponed today.

A further pitch inspection has taken place and todays game against Lothian Thistle is on with a 1.45pm kick off. We look forward to a good turn out of Spartans fans and fans of other East of Scotland teams who’s games are off today will of course be very welcome at City Park this afternoon.

Although an initial inspection deemed the pitch unplayable the weather in Edinburgh is good. There will be a further full pitch inspection after 12:30 today and a decision will be posted on this site by 1pm. We hope the game will go ahead so please revisit this site for the latest information, alternatively you can call Cameron Hobbs on 07962 353 645 for the latest information.